Police will patrol St Peter's Avenue every day as part of a crackdown on beggars.

The news came as a community meeting to discuss issues in Cleethorpes got heated as residents and traders complained about feeling intimidated by them.

Representatives from North East Lincolnshire Council, Humberside Police and Harbour Place were in attendance to answer questions from the public, at the meeting, organised by social media page DN35 Crimewatch.

Public meeting organised by the DN35 Crimewatch facebook group, at the St.Peter's church hall, in Cleethorpes.

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Dave Carlisle from Harbour Place began the meeting by highlighting that there are currently 50 people sleeping on the streets of North East Lincolnshire - twice as many as last year.

However one resident complained to him that they "do not know who is homeless and who is not," and that "beggars on The Avenue choose their lifestyle by choice," an opinion that seemed to be prevalent throughout the room.

One resident even went as far to blame a woman who runs a portable food kitchen for "encouraging the problem."

But she said: "These people need help, and they have nothing. Not all of them are able to go on the support services that are available and all I am doing is trying to give them a bit of help at this time of year, anyone could end up like that."

This comment was met with audible laughter from some of those in attendance.

Public meeting organised by the DN35 Crimewatch facebook group, at the St.Peter's church hall, in Cleethorpes.

Another resident, who used to work at a homeless shelter, said she felt local services were not doing enough to help those living on the streets, and that it was far too hard for them to get into treatment and find shelter, as many have complex addiction and mental health issues.

One woman said that the beggars are making her feeling intimidated when she is walking her dog.

She said: "I go out for a walk with my dog at 6am most mornings, and I am constantly having to cross the road so that I don't walk past homeless people sleeping in the doorways."

The main issue was that local traders felt that their businesses were being affected by the beggars camping outside of their shops and asking for money, and wanted to see the police do more to move them on.

They also felt that a recent crackdown in Grimsby had "pushed the problem up to Cleethorpes."

Public meeting organised by the DN35 Crimewatch facebook group, at the St.Peter's church hall, in Cleethorpes.

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But despite their complaints, none wished to offer any solutions about how to tackle the issue, with some mocking and laughing at those who spoke up saying that this was an "endemic national problem" that needed long term solutions.

Sergeant Will Harrison of Humberside Police said that his force is doing all that it can to improve the problem, and called on residents and traders to report anything that they feel is untoward to them.

He also confirmed that police are aware of 14 "professional beggars" in the area, 10 of whom have only recently arrived Cleethorpes, and two or three that have houses of their own.

He said: "My advice is to not give them anything directly, and if you want to donate to those less fortunate please do so through reputable sources like Harbour Place and other charities when you can.

"We understand that the issue needs to be addressed, and our officers have been out and about everyday, with plans to further increase patrols."

In North East Lincolnshire, 16 professional beggars are known to be operating

Police Inspector Neil Pattison said that the force would be pledging extra officers in the area throughout the December period as part of an ongoing operation, and that there would be a permanent foot patrol in place on St Peter's Avenue from 10am to 6pm everyday.

However he did say that they are limited as to what they can actually do saying: "I know there are a lot of expectations about what we can do to tackle this issue, but we can not just round these people up and stick them on a bus out of town, it just does not work like that.

"If someone is being aggressive towards you, please inform us and we will deal with it."

Croft Baker Ward Councillor Matthew Brown said: "This is a serious problem, that needs multi-agency approach with all of our partners to ensure that something can be done to tackle the issue.

"I know that there are a lot of compassionate people in Cleethorpes that want to do what they can to help someone they feel may be in need, but giving food and money directly to people can often make the problem worse.

"We need to educate people so that they know where they should be making donations, but at the same time we also need to give these people on the streets a chance to get out of their cycle of deprivation.

"The Council needs to do more, because it is apparent that some people do not know where to go if they need help."